MySpace Tracker

Q: I must admit that I have a MySpace profile. I use it to stay in touch with my friends and family and I heard something the other day about a MySpace tracking system. Do you know anything about that? If you have any information, please share it with us!

A: First, I want to say that I hope you’re enjoying your MySpace experience. I know there has been a lot of controversy in the past over this social networking Web site, but all in all, it is a really good way to stay in contact with old friends and relatives who may live far away, etc.

Alright, with that said and out of the way, I, too, have heard of this MySpace “tracking system.” It’s said that you can put a special program into your MySpace profile that will track everyone who views your personal profile. From the tracking program, you’ll be able to see who looked at your profile, at what time they visited and so on. It even gives you the link to the other person’s profile so if someone you don’t know views your page, you can go and see who they are as well. Now, this may seem like a good idea at first, but keep reading for some more interesting information!

There are many tracking services that can be used with MySpace, including MStracker, HitsLink, ProfileSnitch, Hitslog, TrackMySpace, TheSpaceTracker and another called Trakzor. For this tip, I am going to focus the most on Trakzor, because it seems to be one of the more popular trackers used on MySpace. They just recently designed a new version (2.0) and it seems to be the most sophisticated of the group. It also looks like it’s the best designed, which is always a plus.

To put a tracker on your MySpace profile, you just have to download the tracker HMTL code and then insert it onto your page. After you do that, you’ll be able to see who all visits your profile, etc. You will be the only one who can see that information as well. Now, that may all seem a little too good to be true and well, you’re right. It is. With most tracking systems, you can only see who views your profile if that person has an account with the same tracking service as you. So, if someone looks at your page and they don’t have a tracker in their profile, you won’t be able to find anything out about them. Instead, it will be just like any other visitor.

So, as you can see, putting a tracker on your profile doesn’t really help out too much. Plus, it’s not very safe. All of the tracking programs that I mentioned above have one thing in common and that is their limited Internet security. They also tend to have trouble keeping up with profile views, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the program in the first place. And one more thing: if someone has the same tracking system as you do, they can see when you view their profile as well. It doesn’t really keep you any safer and it doesn’t keep your information private.

The best thing to do with MySpace (if you’re worried about unwanted people viewing your profile) is to set it to a private status. That way, anyone who is not on your “friends list” will not be able to see your page. They will be able to see your picture and when you last logged in, but they cannot see any of your personal details, etc. It’s the safest thing to do on MySpace. To do that, log in to your account and click on the Account Settings link. From there, click on Privacy Settings. Under the “Who Can View My Full Profile” section, click the option for “My Friends Only.” You can change some other settings while you’re in there if you want as well. When you’re done, hit the Change Settings button and you’ll be all set.

Now, like I said before, there has been some controversy over how safe MySpace is and while there have been some legitimate arguments, there are a number of ways you can keep yourself safe while using it. Of course, after reading about the trackers, there are some things that may hurt you more than help you, but if you’re smart about your MySpace time, you’ll be just fine. I hope you find all of this information to be more than helpful!

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